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John Zelenka 03 on the platform of the Wall Street subway station. Zelenka leads the Cornell Wall Street networking program for alumni.
Cornell Wall Street enhances alumni connections
Just as last year's financial meltdown was sinking some of the biggest names on Wall Street and enraging the public over executive bonuses, Cornell made an interesting move.
Instead of distancing itself, it embraced its alumni in the financial sector with a new program, Cornell Wall Street. Since May, CWS has been hosting networking events and seminars and looking for ways to help Cornellians survive and thrive in an uncertain business climate.
"It was the perfect time to turn to our alumni and ask, 'What do you need from us?'" says John Zelenka '03, who heads the program from the New York City alumni office. "With everything that's going on and the changes in the industry with all the layoffs, now it's more important than ever to network."
In its first few months, CWS has already featured sold-out talks by alumni and faculty, including President and CEO of National Financial Partners Jessica Bibliowicz '81, hedge fund manager-turned-author Andy Kessler '80, classics professor Kim Bowes and, most recently, New York Times reporter and editor Andrew Ross Sorkin '99, author of "Too Big to Fail" — a book that asks the question: How did last year's financial crisis happen?
CWS will follow the same event-driven model that has proved successful for its sister programs, Cornell Silicon Valley and the Cornell Entrepreneur Network, Zelenka says.
"We want to determine what our alumni want," says Zelenka. "This will mean some trial and error before we achieve true successes and impact. Bottom line — this program is for our alumni, and they will be the ones dictating its direction."
CWS is just one example of how the university is reaching out to the estimated 45,000 alumni who call the New York City metro area home. Together, they represent about 20 percent of all living alumni and the single greatest concentration of Cornellians in the world.
Even with more than 300 Cornell-related events in the city every year, ranging from informal happy hours to huge spectacles like the "Red Hot Hockey" games that sell out Madison Square Garden, the university sees room to reach more alumni.
The Division of Alumni Affairs and Development is relocating its Manhattan offices to a larger space in the Helmsley Building on Park Avenue. In coming months, additional staff will be based there to support increased programming and fundraising up and down the Boston-Washington, D.C., corridor.
In addition to CWS, the university this fall launched NYC Cornellians, a group that will organize events and networking for the 19,000 alumni in the five boroughs. "It can help them find a job, or it can enable people to meet new friends or acquaintances, says Jessica Raha '99, senior associate director of regional programs. "I think the Cornell network is valuable."
For more information on Cornell Wall Street, visit www.cws.cornell.edu.